The Inception actor was grilled by UK website ShortList, and admitted that he had his pick of parts in Batman Forever, Spider-Man, and Star Wars, but could never quite pull the trigger:
There's a rumour you screen-tested for [Robin in Batman Forever]...
I never screen-tested. I had a meeting with Joel Schumacher. It was just one meeting and, no, I didn't end up doing it.
Did you actually want the role?
Er, I don't think I did, no [laughs]. As I recall I took the meeting, but didn't want to play the role. Joel Schumacher is a very talented director but I don't think I was ready for anything like that.
Do you feel like you dodged a bullet?
[Laughs.]
Were you in talks to play Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars prequels?
I did have a meeting with George Lucas about that as well, yes.
What happened?
Same scenario [laughs].
He wanted you, but you didn't fancy it?
Um, right. Exactly.
Why?
Again, just didn't feel ready to take that dive. At that point.
How close did you come to playing Spider-Man before your friend Tobey Maguire took the part?
Er, that was another one of those situations, similar to Robin, where I didn't feel ready to put on that suit yet. They got in touch with me.
Would you like to play a superhero?
You never know. You never know. They're getting better and better as far as complex characters in these movies. I haven't yet. But no, I don't rule out anything.
Sorry Leo, but you've missed your chance: at 35, you're officially at the age where superheroes get rebooted for younger versions. (Still, unless you're John Malkovich in the aborted Spider-Man 4, you're never too old to play a villain.)
ยท The Leo DiCaprio interview [ShortList]